2026 Year8 Month16 Day, the Birmingham European Athletics Championships saw its final day.
Unlike traditional big-city marathons, this time the athletes will battle in Birmingham city centre, on an approximately5 kilometre urban loop as the main circuit to complete8 laps.。
After the contest, in the women's field, Finland'sVainio crossed the line first in 2:22:26, comfortably and unsurprisingly taking the 2026 European Athletics Championships women's marathon title — also setting a championship record!Hungary'sVINDICS-TOTH with a 2:27:21 PB took silver, Britain'sDONNELLY in 2:27:33 took third.
On the men's side, Germany'sPetros crossed the line in 2:09:11; after several near-misses for major championship gold, Petros finally stood atop Europe.Italy's RIVA took silver in 2:09:18, Israel's AYALE took bronze in 2:09:21.
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Pre-race highlights
On the men's side, the biggest favourite was Amanaal·Petros (Amanal PETROS). HisPB reached2:04:03ranked first on today's start list. More importantly, in2025 At the Tokyo World Championships, Petros won the men's marathon silver medal.
And the German team is far more than just Petros. Richard·Ringer (Richard RINGER) is2022 the Munich European Championships men's marathon champion, Samuel·Fitwi (Samuel FITWI) also has the2 ability to run within05 hours and minutes.
On the French side, Rudolf recorded at this year's Paris Marathon2:05:58, and there is alsoa 2:06:40Felix Bour andValentin Gondouin others.
Italy is led by2024 European half-marathon silver medallist Pietro·Riva (Pietro RIVA) at the head, with a personal best2:06:46。
the home-team British squadMahamed Mahamed posted at this year's London Marathon2:06:14, once the race turns into a slow-paced attritional battle, British runners could very well rely on home advantage to join the medal contention.
On the women's side, the one to watch most is Finnish athlete Alisa·Vainio (Alisa VAINIO）。
this year in Seville she ran2:20:39, not only breaking the Finnish national record, but also posting the fastest personal time among the women's marathon entrants at this European Championships.At last year's World Championships in Tokyo, in hot and humid conditions, she ultimately finished fifth, and was also the first European to finish.
Germany'sFabienne Königstein has a personal best of2:22:17; Spain'sLaura Luengo has run2:22:31, while her teammateFatima Azzahraa Ouhaddou Nafie is also2025 the European Championships marathon champion.
The host Britain is represented byRose Harvey、Clara Evans andAbbie Donnelly and others as their core lineup. British women have never before won an individual medal in the European Championships women's marathon — on home soil in Birmingham this time, do they have a chance to rewrite history?
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Women's Vainio
firing on all cylinders, in a class of her own
Beijing time14:30, the women's marathon starts first.
The competitors quickly got into their stride, Vainio andKönigstein The two were very aggressive, breaking away directly from the main group to take the lead. Behind them, Vainio dominated, sitting in first place and holding the lead.Königstein about 100 m.
Vainio's advantage continued to widen. She passed the first lap (5.6 km) in 17:11, averaging about 3:04/km, roughly 1½ minutes ahead of the second group — the race had almost become her solo show.
Vainiocontinued to maintain this aggressive strategy, never relenting, reaching 15.6 km in 50:34, average pace 3:14/km,already about 2 minutes ahead of the second group.
20.6km Wa Yinaoclocked 1:07:23, average pace 3:16/km, her lead continued to grow,she was already 3 minutes ahead of the second group.
30.6km Vainiorecorded 1:41:16, average pace 3:18/km,leading the second group by 4:06.
35.6km Vainioclocked1:58:29, average pace 3:20/km,leading the second group by 4:37.
Ultimately, Vainio crossed the line first in 2:22:26, comfortably and unsurprisingly taking the women's marathon title at the 2026 European Athletics Championships, and setting a championship record!
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Men'sPetros led the field
40 Minutes later, the men's race got underway.
After the men's race began,Linge took the leadrunning in first, with Petros and others close behind. But unlike the women's race, there wasn't a clear split between groups.。
First lap 5.6 kmPetros was first through,in 15:59, averaging 2:51/km.At 10.6 km the lead group passed in 31:05, averaging 2:55/km.
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Results
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Text / Editor: JOJO
Image sources: Paoye Dabaozha, online
Visuals: Max
